The prophet Jeremiah labored faithfully for and argued with God during especially dangerous times. The Kingdom of Judah was a vassal state, false prophets were numerous, and true prophets were targets of the theocratic royal regime. The process of exiling populations had begun, and the full-scale Babylonian Exile had not started yet. False prophets predicted a glorious future and condemned faithful prophets. Yet even Jeremiah, who predicted doom and gloom, stated that divine deliverance and restoration would come in time.

The appearance of Melchizedek in Genesis 14:17-21 linked Abram/Abraham to the Davidic Dynasty, for Melchizedek was the King of Salem (Jerusalem). Hebrews 7 linked Melchizedek to Jesus (“resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever”–verse 3b, The New Revised Standard Version). At the end of the line of faithful Hebrew prophets (ending with St. John the Baptist) stands Jesus, greater than all of them. He is, as Hebrews 7:22 states,

the guarantee of a better covenant.

—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)

Jesus, permanently a priest (7:24), is the Messiah (“Christ” in Greek) unbounded by time. Now he exists beyond human capacity to harm him, but he did die via crucifixion. There was a resurrection, fortunately.

Often we mortals desire to hear words which confirm our prejudices and belie hard truths. Perhaps we know sometimes that what we want to hear is inaccurate, but we accept it anyway because doing so is bearable. Or perhaps we are so deluded that we cannot distinguish between true and false prophecy, prophecy often having more to do with the present day and the near future than the more distant future. Yet, even when we seek to distinguish between true and false prophecy, our ignorance can prove to be a major obstacle. I know of no easy way out of this conundrum. No, the best advice I can offer is to seek to live according to affirming human dignity and loving others as one loves oneself. Following the Golden Rule is sound advice. One might err in the execution of it, but I propose that God will not condemn one for loving one’s neighbors. As for the details of prophecy, they will unfold according to course.

The assigned readings for these days come from places of difficulty. The audience of the Book of Revelation consisted of persecuted Christians and Christians about to endure persecution. Perhaps the faith of the persecuted Christians at Ephesus had begun to waver. Maybe that was what Revelation 2:4 meant. The prophet Jeremiah faced persecution for prophesying against the officult cult in a vassal kingdom which lacked the separation of religion and state. And the prophet Micah wrote that

The faithful have vanished from the land….

–Micah 7:2a, The Revised English Bible (1989)

then catalogued a variety of offenses, such as murder, corruption, and general dishonesty. Then he continued:

But I shall watch for the LORD,

I shall wait for God my saviour;

my God will hear me.

My enemies, do not exult over me.

Though I have fallen, I shall rise again;

though I live in darkness, the LORD is my light.

Because I have sinned against the LORD,

I must bear his anger, until he champions my cause

and gives judgement for me,

until he brings me into the light,

and with gladness I see his justice.

–Micah 7:7-9, The Revised English Bible (1989)

I understand why faith wavers in the context of great adversity. That is when keeping faith can prove especially difficult. After all, many of us have a certain false notion in our minds. If we do what is right, we will be safe, if not prosperous, we think—perhaps even if we know better. Good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, we tell ourselves—perhaps even if we know better. When adversity befalls us we might ask what wrong we have done—even when we know better. Reality challenges false assumptions.

But, as I have learned the hard way, faith can also become stronger in times of adversity and enable one to survive them intact, even stronger spiritually. I have alternated between wavering and becoming stronger spiritually during a certain very difficult time in my life, but I emerged stronger—singed, but stronger.

May you, O reader, find adversity—when it comes—a time of spiritual growth overall.

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Jeremiah 25:1-18 (November 12)

Jeremiah 26:1-19 (November 13)

Psalm 123 (Morning–November 12)

Psalm 15 (Morning–November 13)

Psalms 30 and 86 (Evening–November 12)

Psalms 48 and 4 (Evening–November 13)

Matthew 26:1-19 (November 12)

Matthew 26:20-35 (November 13)

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Thereupon the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a meeting of the Council. “This man is performing many signs,” they said, “and what action are we taking?” If we let him to on like this the whole populace will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and sweep away our temple and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, “You have no grasp of the situation at all; you do not realize that is more to your interest that one man should die for the people, than that the whole nation should be destroyed.”

–John 11:47-50, The Revised English Bible

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Eliakim, son of King Josiah, was the brother of King Jehoahaz (a.k.a. Shallum), who reigned for about three months in 609 BCE. But the Pharaoh of Egypt deposed Jehoahaz/Shallum and replaced him with Eliakim, renamed Jehoiakim, who reigned for about eleven years (608-598 BCE). Judah was under foreign domination, as 2 Kings 23:31-24:7 describes.

This was the context of the readings from Jeremiah 25 and 26: Judah was flung between Egypt and Chaldea then under a solely Chaldean threat. Jeremiah understood this as divine judgment–one which would, in time, turn on the agents of that judgment. And agents of the puppet government tried to have the prophet executed for alleged treason.

Jeremiah survived that threat but Jesus went on to die. The Gospel of John contexualizes the moment well: Jesus was about to become a scapegoat. Yet the perfidious plan of the high priest and others failed. Not only did Jesus rise from the dead, but Roman forces did destroy Jerusalem, the Temple, and the nation in 70 CE, a generation later. But I am getting ahead of the story in Matthew 26.

Jesus, surrounded by Apostles, all of whom would abandon him shortly and one of whom betrayed him immediately, faced mighty forces determined to kill him. They succeeded–for a few days.

So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God,

until he have mercy upon us.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,

for we have had more than enough of contempt.

Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of the arrogant,

and of thee contempt of the proud.

–Psalm 123, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)

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Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness;

you set me at liberty when I was in trouble;

have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

–Psalm 4:1, The Book of Common Prayer (2004)

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Many Bible stories have unhappy endings. Jeremiah, for example, died in exile. Jesus did suffer greatly, but his story had a happy conclusion in the chronological, past-tense narrative. The ultimate end of that tale remains for the future, however. One bit of tissue which connects the Old and New Testament lections today is that tension, reflected in some of the appointed Psalms, between confidence in God and the absence of divine comfort and deliverance in the present tense. It is a tension I do not presume to attempt to resolve all too conveniently and falsely. The good and evil suffer. The good and the evil prosper. Sometimes deliverance does not occur on our schedule. Other times it never happens. This is reality.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JUNE 4, 2013 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT FRANCIS CARACCIOLO, COFOUNDER OF THE MINOR CLERKS REGULAR

Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.

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Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24 (TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures):

The priests and prophets said to the officials and to all the people,

This man deserves the death penalty, for he has prophesied against this city, as you yourselves have heard.

Jeremiah said to the officials and to all the people,

It was the LORD who sent me to prophesy against this House and this city all the words you heard. Therefore mend your ways and your acts, and heed the LORD your God, that the LORD may renounce the punishment He has decreed for you. As for me, I am in your hands: do to me what seems good and right to you. But know that if you put me to death, you and this city and its inhabitants will be guilty of shedding the blood of an innocent man. For in truth the LORD has sent me to you, to speak all these words to you.

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and prophets,

This man does not deserve the death penalty, for he spoke to us in the name of the LORD our God.

…

However, Ahikam son of Shapan protected Jeremiah, so that he was not handed over to the people for execution.

Psalm 140:1-5 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 Deliver me, O LORD, from evildoers;

protect me from the violent,

2 Who devise evil in their hearts

and stir up strife all day long.

3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent;

adder’s poison is under their lips.

4 Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;

protect me from the violent,

who are determined to trip me up.

5 The proud have hidden a snare for me

and stretched out a net of cords;

they have set traps for me along the path.

Matthew 14:1-13 (J. B. Phillips, 1972)

About this time Herod, governor of the province, heard the reports about Jesus and said to his men,

This must be John the Baptist: he has risen from the dead. That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.

For previously Herod had arrested John and had him bound and put in prison, all on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. For John had said to him,

It is not right for you to have this woman.

Herod wanted to kill him for this, but he was afraid of the people, since they all thought John was a prophet. But during Herod’s birthday celebrations Herodias’ daughter delighted him by dancing before his guests, so much that he swore to give her anything she liked to ask. And she, prompted by her mother, said,

I want you to give me, here and now, on a dish, the head of John the Baptist!

Herod was appalled at this, but because he had sworn in front of his guests, he gave orders that she should be given what she had asked. So he sent men and had John beheaded in the prison. Then his head was carried in on a dish and presented to the young girl who handed it to her mother. Later, John’s disciples came, took his body and buried it. Then they went and told the news to Jesus. When he heard it he went away by boat to a deserted place, quite alone.

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The Collect:

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Jeremiah was just one prophet proclaiming the word of YHWH. Another one was Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim, who, like Jeremiah, faced the possibility of execution. Uriah had fled to Egypt, but officials of King Jehoiakim had brought him back, killed him, and thrown his body into “the burial place of the common people” (26:23). Yet Jeremiah lived, thanks to protection from Ahikam, son of King Josiah’s scribe, Shaphan.

Saint John the Baptist had condemned Herod Antipas, a client ruler for the Roman Empire, for entering into an incestuous marriage. Antipas, a man of bad character, allowed the execution of John rather than lose face. Contrast this behavior with Old Testament depictions of God as one who prefers mercy to an inexorable pronouncement of judgment.

Saint John the Baptist lacked a human protector, but one such person saved Jeremiah’s life. May we, if opportunity presents itself, save the prophets among us, or at least refuse to be silent when we can speak up for them.

Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.

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Jeremiah 26:1-9 (TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures):

At the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, this word came from the LORD:

Thus said the LORD: Stand in the court of the House of the LORD, and speak to [the men of] all the towns of Judah, who are coming to worship in the House of the LORD, all the words which I command you to speak to them. Do not omit anything. Perhaps they will listen and turn back, each from his evil way, that I may renounce the punishment I am planning to bring upon them for their wicked acts.

Say to them: Thus said the LORD: If you do not obey Me, abiding by the Teaching that I have set before you, heeding the words of My servants the prophets whom I have been sending to you persistently–but you have not heeded–then I will make this House like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.

The priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the House of the LORD. And when Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, shouting,

You shall die! How dare you prophesy in the name of the LORD that this House shall become like Shiloh and this city be made desolate, without inhabitants?

And all the people crowded about Jeremiah in the House of the LORD.

Psalm 70 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me;

O LORD, make haste to help me.

2 Let those who seek my life be ashamed

and altogether dismayed;

let those who take pleasure in my misfortune

draw back and be disgraced.

3 Let those who say to me “Aha!” and gloat over me turn back,

because they are ashamed.

4 Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you;

let those who love your salvation say to for ever,

“Great is the LORD!”

5 But as for me, I am poor and needy;

come to me speedily, O God.

6 You are my helper and my deliverer;

O LORD, do not tarry.

Matthew 13:53-58 (J. B. Phillips, 1972):

When Jesus had finished these parables, he left the place, and came into his own country. Here he taught the people in their own synagogue, till in their amazement they said,

Where does this man get this wisdom and these powers? He’s only the carpenter’s son. Isn’t Mary his mother, and aren’t James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? And aren’t all his sisters living here with us? Where did he get all this?

And they were deeply offended with him.

But Jesus said to them,

No prophet goes unhonoured except in his own country and in his own home!

And he performed very few miracles there because of their lack of faith.

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The Collect:

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

This day’s reading from Jeremiah requires some background for understanding. King Jehoiakim was a puppet king installed by the Pharaoh of Egypt. Jehoiakim also served the Babylonian king before rebelling against Babylonia. The Kingdom of Judah fell to Babylonia twelve years after he died. So, at the time of the events of Jeremiah 26, the Kingdom of Judah was on its last legs. So, when Jeremiah proclaimed impending boom and destruction, he was both accurate and unpopular. Time, however, has vindicated the prophet.

Over time many prophets have called their cultures and societies to proper reform or revolution. There have also been false prophets, who have called their cultures and societies to forms of tyranny in the name of God. Theocrats have been chief among them. Those who have favored discrimination in the name of God have not taught righteousness, in so far as they denied human equality. May we heed the words of the true prophets and not those of false prophets.